Launched by Chanel in 2020, first in the Middle East, Le Lion de Chanel joined Les Exclusifs as a tribute to Gabrielle Chanel’s astrological sign. Olivier Polge composed an ambery, woody, leathery scent: bergamot and lemon at the top, labdanum and amber in the middle, vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood and musk in the base. Persolaise counts it among the house’s great successes.
Persolaise sees it as one of Chanel’s greatest successes of the 21st century; Kafkaesque, who loved it from the first test, finds in it a vintage Shalimar enriched with labdanum, with echoes of Coromandel.
Olfastory’s review
Persolaise, January 2021
On January 7, 2021, Persolaise found Le Lion superb: a feline fragrance that purrs, enveloping yet able to bare its claws. The balance between bergamot and lemon reminds him of Shalimar, the suede note of Cuir de Russie, the patchouli of Coromandel.
He reads it as an amber designed to appeal to the Gulf without resorting to oud, at the crossroads of those three classics. He sees it as one of Chanel’s finest successes, perhaps the house’s greatest since the start of the century.
Kafkaesque, April 2022
On April 23, 2022, Kafkaesque recounted loving Le Lion from the start and buying the largest bottle after a second test. Beyond the official notes, the author perceives a smoky birch tar leather, a lot of jasmine, incense and aldehydes.
Le Lion evokes for the author a vintage Shalimar enriched with labdanum, with echoes of Coromandel and of Dior’s Mitzah, a blend of influences Kafkaesque openly admits to loving. The trail, very large in the first hours, lasts according to the author from fourteen hours to more than a day.